Former Vero Beach art dealer pleads not guilty to seven counts of art fraud in California

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A former Vero Beach resident pleaded not guilty to seven counts of art fraud in California, according to The Associated Press.

Authorities said former art dealer Matthew Taylor, 43, defrauded a Los Angeles art collector out of more than $2 million by selling him doctored paintings by unknown artists and claiming they were the works of Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and others.

Taylor had fled authorities before he was found on Ocean Drive near the Rio Mar Sands condominiums in Vero Beach in September and taken into custody.

Taylor's trial is scheduled to begin April 3, The Associated Press reported. If convicted on all charges, Taylor could face up to 100 years in federal prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles said.

Taylor's Los Angeles defense attorney, Harland Braun, said one of the key accusations can be explained. Braun said Taylor was upfront about the paintings' authenticity and professed only that they were copies made at the time the original artists lived.

In addition, Taylor is charged with money laundering, including $105,000 from the sale of four fake paintings by transferring the cash across state lines.

Locally, Taylor was charged with filing false police reports in 2008 and 2009, where he claimed some $100,000 in art was stolen from his residence at the Spires condominium in Vero Beach. Authorities elected not to prosecute due to the cost of bringing in out-of-state witnesses for a relatively minor offense, police said.